I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday!

16 years ago

I frequently check out the Freecycle group in our areas page. I have gotten rid of a lot but sure haven't picked up a lot from it (the one thing I got, turned out to not work for us and I ended up Freecycling it a few weeks ago! LOL).

So yesterday I come across a post where a lady is offereing up free plants. She's thinning out and lists all the things she has to offer and is setting up times for different people to come on different days so she doesn't have half a dozen people there at once. I scroll down and see a list of about 30 different plants! Wow! But then I start reading and a few names jump out at me like Gooseneck Loosestrife and Cinquefoil!!! WHAT?!!!

I mentioned it to a good friend how this nice lady is giving away invasive plants and weeds and boy how would I like to give away my weeds! LOL She said maybe the woman had no clue, however she had ever latin name for every plant listed along with the common name. No one that knows that much about plants doesn't know that the plant isn't a weed or on the invasive plants list in our state! Can you imagine?!

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Comments (6)

madisonkathy
16 years ago
Could the gooseneck be lysimachia clethroides? That's the white gooseneck, not the purple invasive. I love mine. Yes, it spreads, but it also blooms wherever I put it.
lindac
16 years ago
Gooseneck loosestrife is lysmachia clethroids....and in my garden I have been trying to eradicate it for 35 years. It's still not gone, but well under control and now that I have learned you can inject round up into the stem of a weed coming up in a clump or adesirable plant, I have hope.
I don't know how long it has been in your gardens, Kathy, but if you don't dig at it for maybe 2 years it will spread to 25 square feet, easily.
Linda C
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webkat5
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Also, there are many cultivated varieties of Cinquefoil....

Potentilla 'Monarch's Velvet' for one....

I have two different varieties and neither are running rampant.

You must be thinking of the "wild" forms of these plants.
calliope
16 years ago
My husband is trying to eradicate the gooseneck loosestrife I planted several years ago. It is almost as had to be free of as crownvetch. I love the looks but it is too much of a good thing. Very, very hard to get rid of. He's round-upped three times and pulled twice and it's still coming back.
nancyd
16 years ago
What is a "weed," exactly? Some would call them flowers. It's really all in how you look at it. I don't think my lysmachia is any more invasive than my rudbeckia which reseeds everywhere. I also have cinquefoil and it's not invasive at all. And besides, "invasive" isn't always bad. Some folks want things that spread A LOT. Personally I like those plants in tricky areas I'm trying to fill up quickly. They aren't fussy! Isn't that what groundcover is? If you're planting that, you certainly want one that has all the qualities of an "invasive" plant. They do have value. I know a lady who thinks daylilies are invasive. So it's all in what you like. Sounds like she labeled things pretty clearly and she is offering them for free after all. Not everyone can afford to buy a lot of plants and it is a nice gesture on her part. Maybe you should go see what she's got before you judge her too hastily.
mxk3 z5b_MI
16 years ago
Quote: "What is a "weed," exactly?"

A weed is any plant that is growing where you don't want it growing.

Goodness, there are lot of ornamental plants that people pay big bucks for that I consider "weeds", and I'm sure that what I hold dear in my garden other folks consider junky. Actually, at a BBQ last year my dad's wife pointed and asked me what that big weedy thing was. Ahem...that would be Chasmanthium latifolum, a truly beautiful ornamental grass if ever there was one - to my eyes, of course :p.

Weedy is different than a plant being truly invasive and on the banned list (such as Lythrum) - entirely different situation. With a truly invasive species, the issue is it choking out the natives, which upsets the whole ecocycle.